Bill Cowan

William V. Cowan, often nicknamed Bill Cowan (born August 1943), is a retired USMCLieutenant Colonel, accomplished public speaker on matters of national security and terrorism, and a contributor for the Fox News Channel.[1]

In April 1983, after having been offered a job at the White House Science Advisor's office, he was approached by the Intelligence Support Activity (ISA) to replace the previous U.S. Marine representative and ISA deputy operations officer. He conducted numerous missions as an ISA operative and was with the team that hunted down and targeted those responsible for the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, which killed 241 servicemen (220 Marines, 18 Navy personnel and 3 Army personnel). He retired from the Marine Corps after what he perceived as inaction by the Pentagon towards dealing with this incident.

Following his time as a staff assistant to Senator Warren Rudman he again became involved with global terrorism and the Middle East. Cowan was involved in some of the most famous hostage rescues of the Middle East. One of his rescues, the 1990 rescue of American businessmen in Kuwait after Saddam Hussein had invaded that country, was the object of a documentary where some secrets about his organization were revealed, such as the fact that organization operatives used to obtain fake passports issued by a man in Paris to enter countries where people were being held. This operation was conducted in combination with former CIA director Bill Colby.

Following the events of 9/11, Cowan was called on again by the government to support various Pentagon programs overseas. He was ultimately fired in 2013 at the direction of the White House for comments he had made on television about President Obama.

Cowan has a graduate degree in computer science and is a member of Mensa. But he is known internationally for his expertise in counterterrorism, intelligence, and military special operations. He has also been a Fox News Channel contributor since 2001, has been a co-host with Ambassador Dick Carlson on the radio and television show Danger Zone, and he has written articles for The Washington Post, The Daily Caller, Breitbart, The Hill, and has been featured in several television shows apart from the documentary such as 60 Minutes, Larry King Live and others.

With his first wife he had four children, and with his second he had three beautiful girls, one of which is a prodigy dancer. He is currently married to the former Velvet Leigh Shelton, a conservative political activist from Mount Airy, North Carolina.